Janine’s blog

Pictures of Practice In Schools (LS-South East schools) http://popis.edublogs.org/

Windows into the classroom (LS-South schools) http://winclass.edublogs.org/

Background

The Tasmanian Education Department has undergone massive restructure in recent years (and it is an ongoing work in progress). One of the elements of the restructure is that the central statewide bureacracy has now been transformed into 4 regional ”Learning Services”. So we have Learning Services South, Learning Services South East, Learning Services North and Learning Services North West. Each makes their own decisions about various support structures depending on the needs of the local schools.The two Learning Services for the South of the State have decided for the time being to continue having a full time person whose role is to provide ICT Professional Learning services to schools, again in response to school identified needs.

These two educators (Ros and Julie) have been working in such roles for many years. Last year they both decided to start documenting their observations of teacher practice in schools via  blogs with monthly postings. What I like about this use of blogs is that the unique opportuniries they have to observe classroom practice are being documented and shared. That knowledge (dare I suggest wisdom?) is preserved regardless of the longevity or otherwise of their current jobs. Of course the other side of the coin is that such writing in the public domain requires a high level of personal awareness of privacy, copyright and professional ethics else (to quote a learned colleague) the excrement can hit the rotating device big time.

In their own words from a posting to the local ICT-learning email discussion list …..

“Hello everyone,

During 2007, Julie Fielding and I both kept a blog relating to the work that we do in southern schools, and we will be continuing our blogs this year.

We each make a new posting approximately once a month and choose a focus that reflects what is happening in our schools at the time.

We hope it provides teachers and principals with general information about what is happening in the ICT area, along with examples of local teachers using ICT to enhance learning for their students, as well as giving them the opportunity to ask questions, share their own experiences etc. using the ‘Comments’ facility at the end of each posting.

Here are the links to the 2 blogs so you can have a look:

Pictures of Practice In Schools (LS-South East schools) http://popis.edublogs.org/

Windows into the classroom (LS-South schools) http://winclass.edublogs.org/

If you would like to subscribe to the blogs and be automatically notified each month when there is new material posted on the blog, use the ‘Subscribe by email’ facility on the right hand side of the pages, or use an RSS feed if you would prefer.

[copied from http://lyris.education.tas.gov.au:8080/read/messages?id=40717]

to be checked out - recommended on aamt email discussion list  - a teacher organizing his classroom to enhance learning. The web site also includes links to a number of supporting documents.

http://www.edutopia.org/math-social-activity-sel-video#comment-26073_

I found out today, with great sadness, that Marie Jasinski died on Monday 21 January. I first came across Marie in 1997 when I was starting up the VECO project and she was managing the LearnScope project. Although our audiences and purposes were different, there was much commonality in the field of online community and running online events. At the 1999 Net*Working online conference, she played the zany, offbeat, bizarre role of Sister Marie Psychic in the Alcazar (solver of all your problems). Marty Cielens was the Moet Poet, many others hung out in the Alcazar and I decided to be the self-appointed archivist.   As was typical of much of her work, this was a fun and off-beat way to explore new territory but with serious learning in mind. Not long after this we collaborated to experiment with using technology to bring a face to face workshop to a remote audience - it did not work so well but we learned heaps. So a professional and personal relationship developed over time. While visiting Adelaide for a conference a few years ago, we met up and went to an Adelaide Fringe Festival event in the famous Spiegeltent. She brought along the new man in her life who turned out to be none other than Marty, the Moet Poet from the Alcazar.  She was my mentor for my Flexible Learning Leader year and how insightful, inspirational and motivational she was. 

In early 2007 she found out that she was seriously unwell and her approach to that, as to everything in her life, was to focus on the positive, to make the most of every moment and share her love with family and friends.  She and Marty married, had some travelling adventures then moved home to Hobart in December 2007. Though I spoke to her, it was not meant to be that we would spend any more time together.  The notice in today’s Mercury reads:

Jasinski, Marie Louise

Died peacefully at Hobart on January 21, 2008. Much loved wife of Martin Cielens. Beloved daugheter of Dorothy Jasinski and  Leonard Jasinski (dec.) Cherished sister of Jenny and John. Much loved sister-in-law of Janet Plater, Viesturs and Andrew Cielens, Kym Tilgals and Michelle Marsh, and daughter in law of Tatjana Tilgals. Adored “Auntie Rie” of Sam, Grace and Max Jasinski. To all of us, a friend, companion and guide; someone who wove webs of joy and adventure. An exceptional person who will be deeply missed yet lives in all of us.

Marie leaves behind a rich legacy to the world of flexible learning, innovation, change and generally operating effectively in the 21st century. She was extremely proud of her final piece of professional work.

Some snippets of her digital footprint…..

• 1998 Teaching and learning styles that facilitate  online learning - research project led by Marie
• 1999 Sister Marie and the Alcazar - an early foray into role playing (look out for the Spitting Camel)
• 1999 Online learning - delivery truck, construction site or introduction agency (includes audio file - an early webcast)
• 2000 Virtual games for real learning - conference paper co-authored with Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan
• 2001 E-games: Improvisation through open platform design - conference paper
• 2002 Sister Marie reaches the summit - a summary of role play and simulation
• 2002 The Zen Of Being An Effective ‘Mod’ In Online Role-Play Simulations - paper jointly authored with Albert Ip
• 2003 Notes on Inspired Minds workshop - Harnessing Your Power To Innovate, Lead and Change - by Janet Burstall
• 2004 Educhaos series - out of control and thriving! - a series of 7 online events facilitated by Marie in the Australian Flexible Learning community
• 2005 Background to the Australian Flexible Learning Community - describes Marie’s role in the early days
• 2005 Robert Woog, Robby Weatherley, Marie Jasinski talk at Austafe2005 - see conversation after blog posting
• 2006 Innovate and integrate: Embedding innovative practices research - commissioned applied research
• 2006 Life Based Learning: A strength based approach to capability development - research collaboration with Maret Staron and Robbie Weatherley
• 2007 Marty and Marie’s blog
• 2008 Stephen Downes’ tribute
• 2008 Nancy White’s tribute
• 2008 Albert Ip’s tribute - lots of links to video clips of Marie talking about role play
• 2008 Carole McCulloch’s tribute - photostory from Marie and Marty’s wedding
• 2008 Australian Flexible Learning Leaders’ (FLL) tributes

The poem and other sentiments expressed so far in the FLL tributes really capture the spirit of Marie. Anyone she touched professionally she also influenced personally. Her approach to life shone through - she embodied the concept of living in the moment and always with joy, humour, insight and understanding of the human condition.

Janine Bowes FLL 2004

• 25 Jan 2008  Special tribute held online - recording and summary available
• Feb 2008 Thiagi’s tribute
• Mar 2008 Celebration held in Adelaide (Michael Coghlan blog)

Vale special friend.

I am fortunate to be attending a ten day Summer School for Science teachers being held at Flinders University in Adelaide.  I have set up a separate summer school blog  as the focus is somewhat different (though related) to this one.

“This research will identify the key features of successful and promising personalising learning strategies, supported by exemplars of excellent practice. The project seeks to respond to the following questions:

What are the key characteristics of excellent and successful personalised learning experiences through the use of digital technologies? …..”

According to the website, the field research for this project is winding up now (December 2007) and the report will be out in March 2008.
Read more on the website

The latest Australian Flexible Learning framework online event kicked off today. Whilst the site requires login, a public facing e-Show nTell blog  is also happening. I believe a recording will be available and I look forward to that.

e-learning with an emphasis on learning - Ron Oliver

 I was unable to attend Ron Oliver’s opening keynote but the slides are available on the event blog together with some screenshots (1 and 2) of the audience interaction. I really like his 3 circles description of learning design - the intersection of

• learning tasks
• learning resources
• learning supports

Naturally each of these is a deep study in itself and he goes into exploration of each. 

[As posted to ict-learning email discussion list 30-Sep-07 http://lyris.education.tas.gov.au:8080/read/messages?id=39489]

I have just finished listening to a presentation titled  Can MOODLE become more SUPPLE? from the New Zealand Moodle Moot which finished yesterday (mentioned on Stephen Downes’ OLDaily e-newsletter).

The presentation discusses the need for traditional LMS/VLE systems (which are essentially Web 1.0 technologies) to move on and embrace Web 2.0 and thus morph into PLEs - Personalised Learning Environments. The presenter makes a case for Moodle being ahead of the game in this regard because of its open philosophy. Regardless of your views in the LMS wars, the discussion about learning design and how educational thinking needs to move on so that student use of web 2.0 is acknowledged and made use of, is great food for thought. The presentation is in Slideshare so you see the slides and hear the audio.

Moodlemoot website is at http://www.elearning.org.nz/ One of the most interesting slides in the presentation is one taken from another place. It shows a future possibility where educational organisations focus on providing the infrastructure and tools to collect learning evidence from whatever sources the student chooses to use.  See visual representation of this

Some postings on oz-teachers this week included recommended links to people keeping their finger on the pulse and thinking deeply about the use of Web 2.0 tools in education.

• Jane Hart maintains a directory at the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies and a personal blog
• Richard McManus’ Read/Write Web blog
  

and following on from their popular presentations on Web 2.0 at ACEC2006:

• Kathy Schrock’s Shedding Light on Web 2.0 site includes recent presentations.
• Ken Price’s Web 2.0 and education: best friends or worst enemies presentation

Like all Tasmanian schools we are currently grappling with the new Tasmanian curriculum which is what the Essential Learnings have morphed into. Lyn has put us in touch with the writings of Mike Schmoker who provides some research-based ideas about how to achieve real educational improvement through the setting of small practical goals rather than spending large amounts of time on “strategic planning” and the resultant paperwork.  He proposes an alternative at school level,

…the dumb (if unsexy) certainties of having teams of teachers implement, assess, and adjust instruction in short-term cycles of improvement — not annually, but continuously. http://mikeschmoker.com/tipping-point.html

I have read some of his articles and am now looking forward to reading his latest book,  RESULTS NOW: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning.

Alan Levine visited Hobart as part of his Australian speaking tour. I was lucky enough to join him for dinner with colleagues Jo and Frankie and Jo’s partner Nick. His workshop in Hobart was a sell-out and has received many glowing accolades. His presentation notes are available on the special blog he set up for his Australian tour - cogdogroo.wordpress.com. He cleverly fed this via RSS to his mainstream CogDogBlog site.

Follow the Australian tour.

and specifically…

Hobart workshop and specifically 50 ways to tell a Web 2.0 Story